Throw Your Life Away
by Gamma Orionis
Summary: Every day without Andromeda was difficult. Written for Cheeky Slytherin Lass's 24 Hour Pairing Competition on the HPFC Forum.


Author's Notes: Written for Cheeky Slytherin Lass's 24 Hour Pairing Competition on the HPFC Forum, with the pairing Bellatrix/Andromeda, and the prompt "Andromeda has left home to marry Ted. Bellatrix tries to change her mind."

)O(

Every day without Andromeda was difficult. Narcissa had spent more time weeping than not since she had last seen her sister. Druella and Cygnus fought perpetually, and didn't even bother to try to keep their remaining daughters from hearing them – Bellatrix went to sleep at night hearing them screaming at each other about whose fault it was that their second daughter had gone so badly astray.

Bellatrix herself did not cry, nor did she waste her time with futile shouting matches. There was no use in doing any of that. It wouldn't bring her sister back. The only way to do that would be to talk to her.

So she spent her days out of the house, walking up and down Diagon Alley, hoping that, by some fantastic chance, she would see her sister there. She didn't expect her to be there, not really – for all she knew, she wasn't even in the country anymore – but she didn't know where else to go.

So sure was she that she would never see her sister again that, when she did catch a glimpse of Andromeda walking down the crowded street, she didn't believe her own eyes at first. She had to search the bustling crowds for her and watch her for several long moments before she sprang towards her and caught her arm.

"Andromeda!"

Andromeda was carrying a shopping basket and looking completely engrossed in her errands, and she startled violently when Bellatrix grabbed her. When the shock appeared to have passed, she still did not smile.

"Bellatrix?"

"I've been looking for you!" And all the words that Bellatrix had been keeping back for her own sake came tumbling out. "Where have you been? It's been weeks! You're not really staying away, are you? You can't, Andi! What have you been doing? We've all been worried! Narcissa's a mess–"

"I got married," Andromeda said, which didn't particularly answer any of Bellatrix's questions, and her face was impassive. Bellatrix would have thought that, after not seeing her for so long, her sister should have been able to express more emotion.

"Got- come here." Bellatrix dragged Andromeda out of the street and into one of the narrow alleys between two shops, so they could have a little more of a semblance of privacy. "Got married? To who?"

"You wouldn't know him."

"Well, don't you think I ought to? I am your sister!"

"You wouldn't want to," Andromeda said flatly. "He's a Mudblood. That's why I left. I couldn't very well marry a Mudblood and keep on speaking to people who want him dead."

The words didn't sink in at first, and Bellatrix stared dumbly at her sister, trying to process what she was saying.

"A... Mudblood."

"Yes."

"You married a Mudblood."

"Yes, I did."

"But..." Andromeda, getting married to a Mudblood? No, no. Andromeda had always been more sensible than that. "But why would you do that?" And then, as the full weight of the realization that her sister had run away from home – from _her_ – to marry a Mudblood settled in, Bellatrix bristled with anger and hurt. "What can he give you that no one else can?" She grabbed Andromeda by her shoulders and shook her, trying only to shake sense into her, for she'd clearly lost it. "What's so special about him that you'd leave all of us?"

"I love him, Bella." Andromeda pushed her hands away and stepped back.

"More than you love Cissy and me?"

"More than I love the things you and Cissy believe in." She moved to pick up her shopping basket, which she'd dropped when Bellatrix grabbed her. Bellatrix knocked it out of her hand and jerked her upright again.

"What, you mean like us believing that a Mudblood isn't good enough for our sister?"

"Exactly like that," Andromeda said. Bellatrix had never known her sister to look so cold. "Why do you hate them so much?"

"We don't _hate_ them, Andi!" she protested, frustrated. "But they're not like us. Marrying one is like marrying a dog or a horse!"

"No, it's not!" Andromeda raised her voice. "He's not an _animal!_ He's as human as you or I!"

"You're not thinking straight! Do you realize how _stupid_ you sound? You're like a little child insisting their pet rat is as clever as a person–"

"Oh, don't patronize me, Bellatrix! Have you ever even talked to a Mudblood?"

"Of course I have! It's not as if I could avoid it, going to Hogwarts, where they're allowed to go running around freely..."

"Every word you say is making me want to see you even less," Andromeda said icily. She grabbed up her basket again. "You should listen to what you're really saying, Bellatrix. I don't think you realize just how awful you sound."

She started off again, and Bellatrix had to run after her and clutch at her arms again.

"All right, if you don't want to come home for me, fine – but what about Cissy? She needs you – you must know how much! If you won't do it for me, do it for her."

"She still has you. You take care of her."

"I can't! I can't take care of anyone, you know that – I certainly can't take care of Cissy all by myself! You're the only one in the whole family who has an ounce of mothering instinct, or the first clue how to take care of anyone; you know you are!"

For the first time, Andromeda's solidly cold expression wavered a little. Her eyebrows drew together and the corners of her mouth turned down.

"I'm not going back, Bella," she said, though her voice was a little more gentle than before. "You're going to have to work out what to do about Cissy. I can't stay just for her."

"So you do love your Mudblood more than her."

"It's different."

"Is it?" Now that Andromeda had softened a bit, Bellatrix dared to move a little closer to her. "How is it different?"

"Loving a husband is different from loving a sister, and you know it."

"Did you feel like you were lacking in husband's love?" Bellatrix took another step towards her and laid a hand on her elbow, drawing her towards her slightly. Andromeda didn't pull away, but she did stiffen when Bellatrix touched her. "Did you want something that Cissy and I couldn't give you?"

"Don't try it, Bella. I know what you're thinking."

"There's nothing that Mudblood can do that Cissy and I wouldn't do just as willingly." She skimmed her hand over the curve of Andromeda's hip. "Come home with me, and I promise you won't miss anything about him."

"It's not about sex," Andromeda insisted, and she jolted when Bellatrix's hand rested on her breast. "Stop it. You don't understand."

"What don't I understand? What else can a husband give you that a sister can't – or isn't supposed to?"

"He's more than just a _husband_." Andromeda shivered as Bellatrix's hand snaked up beneath the hem of her shirt. "If all I wanted was a husband, I wouldn't have run away. There are Purebloods who would make good husbands – Bella, _stop_." She pushed her hand away firmly and stepped back. "I didn't leave because I wanted to go to bed with someone and a Mudblood was the only option. I _left_ because I think you're all wrong about Mudbloods and I won't be involved with that!"

"This is just a phase, Andi! You'll regret it in a few years if you cut things off now!" Bellatrix heard her own voice turning hysterical, try as she might to keep calm, because she could see Andromeda closing off again. "You'll realize that this was all a mistake and by then you won't be able to come back – I'm trying to stop you from throwing your life away, Andi!"

"I'd rather throw my life away by going to live with a Mudblood than keep a life where I have to sit around with you and pretend to believe in the things you say!" Andromeda straightened her blouse and backed away, shaking her head. "Maybe I do love him more than you. But only because you insist on continuing to pretend that he's just a Mudblood, not a human being. If you'd only realize that you're wrong about that, then things could be different."

"I'm _not_ wrong," Bellatrix insisted, and Andromeda held up a hand and shook her head.

"Don't bother. I know I'm not going to convince you. Fine. But I don't want to see you if you're going to keep on saying such things."

"Well, I'm not going to stop believing things that are true!"

"Then I suppose we aren't going to see any more of each other," Andromeda said, and for a moment, she looked genuinely sad to be saying it. Then she regained her cold, hard glare and gave Bellatrix one last look. "Goodbye, Bella."

Then she turned around and strode off – fast, too fast for Bellatrix to catch her before she was back on the main street.

Bellatrix watched her go, feeling numb and a little sick. She had meant it before, when she said that she didn't hate Mudbloods. But as she watched her sister's retreating back, and knew that it was a Mudblood who had stolen her away, she began to think that, perhaps, she really _did_ hate them.

)O(

_Fin_


End file.
